


Mother

by elandhop



Series: Stay [5]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, ariel goes to kindergarten, ariel's first day of school will be the next story, nicole meets her mother who knows nothing about her life, this is kind of a two parter, waverly nicole and wynonna are a mom squad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 03:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15677301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elandhop/pseuds/elandhop
Summary: “What if her teacher doesn’t like us?”Nicole smirks.“Top of the class Waverly Earp is worried that our daughter's Kindergarten teacher won’t like her?”Waverly shrugs, and motions to herself and Nicole.“Like us. Purgatory’s a pretty conservative town, Nicole.”Or,Nicole asks Wynonna an important question and unexpectedly reunites with someone from her past.





	Mother

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for the support you have given me to continue this series.  
> Your comments make my day!  
> In this story, you will find out why Ariel is in foster care.  
> As always, if you have any prompts for this series, feel free to leave a comment or message me on Tumblr!

**Mother**

_You’ve got each other,_

_That’s your mother_

Sugarland 

Nicole Haught has never been so nervous. She’s usually calm. Levelheaded. Confident. But when she’d asked Wynonna to meet her in her office, she never thought she’d actually follow through, nevertheless show up _on time_ with coffee and donuts.

Wynonna’s out of breath as she plops down in front of Nicole’s desk.

“Dropped Alice off, and Mrs. Lovejoy has the audacity to ask me to help chaperone next week’s field trip to the petting zoo.” She slides a coffee across Nicole’s desk and gulps down the steaming hot liquid.

Nicole pops the styrofoam tab off of her cup.

“Are all the classes going to the petting zoo? I know Ariel would be more inclined to go if one of us was there.”

Wynonna shakes her head.

“Just Alice’s class. Apparently, Lovejoy is in canoodles with the owner.”

Nicole laughs.

“So…Are you a chaperone, Ms. ‘Alice’s Mommy?’” She takes a small sip.

Wynonna rolls her eyes and chuckles.

“Hell no. I may have signed up _Mr._ Wynonna Earp though!”

“You’re making Doc run around a farm with five-year-olds?”

Wynonna nods.

“Sweet. Sweet revenge. I hope the goats eat his Stetson.” She pops open the donut box, and takes out a chocolate one.

Nicole raises her eyebrows.

“Revenge for _what_ exactly?” Wynonna takes a bite of the chocolate treat.

“He bought me a ring and asked me to be his _partna_.”

Nicole reaches for Wynonna’s hand as she yanks it back.

“That’s adorable.”

Wynonna frowns, and puts on her best southern drawl.

_“Wy-Nonna, would you do me the honor of bein’ my partner, not just now but always’”_

“And you’re mad because…?” Nicole reaches into the box for a vanilla dipped donut.

“I thought we _were you know_ ‘partnas’ already. He made me all mushy, Nicole. I felt like I was looking  at him like you look at _Waverly_.”

“What did you say?”

Wynonna shrugs.

“He was all ‘I don’t like to presume’ and then I got pissed. I took the ring though; it’s all shiny and shit.” Wynonna holds her ring finger up to reveal a band with a sparkling gemstone in the middle.

Nicole’s heart is beating loudly in her chest.

“Speaking of rings…. Wynonna, you know I love Waverly with all my heart, soul, and body.”

Wynonna shields her eyes with her donut.

“Please don’t remind me about the body part, Haught.”

“I have a   _great_ body, Wynonna.”

Wynonna’s eyes go wide because she has a feeling she knows exactly why Nicole invited her in this morning.

 “Waverly is so special to me and…. I know she’s your favorite person in the world, but… she’s mine too. I can’t thank you enough for taking care of her….as a kid….and helping her become the beautiful soul that she is... She means the world to me. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything but, I wanted to ask you if-.”

Wynonna nods and takes Nicole’s hand in her own.

“You have my blessing, Haught Stuff. It’s about _time_ you two made it official.”

Nicole grins from ear to ear.

“Really?”

Wynonna rolls her eyes.

“We live in the same house. You two have a kid. You make googly eyes at each other every five minutes. It’d be pretty rude of me not to give you ‘permission.’ Plus…”

Wynonna sighs licks her fingers and reaches across the desk for the awkwardest hug known to humankind. She pats Nicole on the back.

“I love you, Haught.”

Nicole kisses the top of Wynonna’s head quickly and clears her throat.

“Love you too, Earp.”

Wynonna pats Nicole’s hand.

“Baby girl never hears about how this conversation went down, deal?”

Nicole nods and stares at Wynonna’s ring.

“Waves and I have that meeting with Ariel’s teacher this afternoon. You want to meet up at the playground after school?”

“That was the most _Mom_ thing that’s come out of your mouth in the past two weeks, Haught.”

Wynonna stuffs the rest of her donut in her mouth.

 “I’ll bring Ariel with me on the way to pick up Alice so they can play afterward. I figured I’d be watching her during the meeting.”

Nicole grins.

“She loves her Auntie NoNo.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…you’re welcome.”

Wynonna rolls her eyes.

“I love her too, Nicole. You and my baby girl are doing an _excellen_ t job.”

* * *

 

Waverly smooths the nonexistent wrinkles out of her dress and takes a deep breath as she climbs out of the Jeep.

She grabs Nicole’s hand, but not before fixing the collar on her girlfriend’s deputy-designated button-down shirt.

Nicole runs her other hand through her red hair and gives her girlfriend a peck on the cheek.

“Don’t worry, baby. Everything will be okay.”

“What if her teacher doesn’t _like_ us?”

Nicole smirks.

“Top of the class Waverly Earp is worried that a teacher won’t _like_ her?”

Waverly shrugs, and motions to herself and Nicole.

“Like _us._ Purgatory’s a pretty conservative town, Nicole.”

Nicole shakes her head.

“ _Baby._ They’re assholes if they don’t. Plus I _am_ their town sheriff.”

Waverly pinches Nicole’s cute butt, which is currently in the Khakis she can’t get enough of.

“Not to toot your own horn or anything, Sheriff Haught.”

Nicole grins down at Waverly.

“Nah. I would never. Plus, the principal’s email said that her teacher did request a meeting with us before she starts. I would guess if she didn’t _like_ us… she wouldn’t have asked.”

Nicole holds the door open for her girlfriend, and they step inside the Elementary School. They walk toward the waiting area in front of the principal’s office after signing in with the secretary, and Waverly leans into Nicole.

“She got the new Kindergarten teacher who just started last week. The other teacher up and left unexpectedly in the middle of the school year. Wynonna said that  Alice has Mrs. Lovejoy, but she’s more of a _killj-”_

Suddenly, Waverly spots a tiny girl with braids in a line full of students walking down the hallway, led by who could only be Mrs. Lovejoy.

Waverly stands up and starts to wave at her niece, calling her name. After she gets a curt look from Mrs. Lovejoy, she sits back down in the plastic chair, defeated.

“Aunt Nic! Auntie Waves!”

Alice darts out of her place in line and runs to hug her Aunties like she hasn’t seen them in years. She nearly drops her library book.

Mrs. Lovejoy casts daggers at Nicole and Waverly as they hug their niece.  

“Alice Earp! _What happened to the marshmallow in your mouth?”_

Nicole has to stifle back a laugh as Alice begrudgingly gets back in line behind her classmates.

“She’s supposed to put an imaginary marshmallow in her mouth to be quiet in the hallway?”

“Guess so,” Waverly bites her tongue.

“I can’t see Ariel following that rule. She’ll ask where the real marshmallows are!”

Nicole puts her arm around the back of Waverly’s seat, and Waverly lays her head on her shoulder.

“We’d better pack her some for a snack on the first day.”

* * *

 

A few more classes pass by, and the secretary comes up to them, holding a clipboard.

“Why don’t I take you to her classroom? Let’s see…what is your child’s name?”

Waverly straightens up in her chair.

“Ariel Ear- Hau-…” She cuts herself off.

Her name is Ariel. Ariel Marissa Mueller. We’re her foster parents, Waverly and Nicole.”

Nicole clears her throat as the secretary looks on her list.

 “Ah yes. Ariel’s teacher will be Ms. O’Connell.”

Nicole frowns and looks over at Waverly who squeezes her hand. _It can’t be._

They follow the secretary down the hall until they reach a door decorated with a huge puzzle piece that says _We all fit in here._

The secretary knocks on the door, and Nicole puts her arm around Waverly’s waist to steady herself.

The door opens, and a tall, middle-aged redhead walks out. If Waverly didn’t know any better, she’d think this woman was Nicole’s-

“ _Nicole?”_

Apparently, Waverly doesn’t know any better, because Nicole looks like she’s about to pass out.

“Mom?” Her mouth goes dry, and Waverly grabs her hand.

_Nicole’s Mom_ doesn’t flinch, but gestures for Waverly and Nicole to step inside her brightly colored classroom.

“You _moved_ to Purgatory?! Did you know? Did you know I lived here?” Nicole lets go of Waverly’s hand, and looks her mother straight in the eye.

“Please, Nicole. Calm down. It’s my prep and I need to-”

Waverly’s livid, but she can’t come up with the right words to say to this woman.

“It’s your _prep?_ Mom. You wanted to see me on your prep? You couldn’t call me to say you’d moved here like a normal person?”

“Nicole.” The woman crosses her arms, and gestures for Waverly and Nicole to sit in the chairs in front of her desk. She sits in the office chair behind the desk, and shakes her head.

“You’re a cop?”

“She’s the town Sheriff, Ms. O’Connell.” Waverly takes Nicole’s hand under the desk.

“You’re…a teacher?”

“I went back to school to get my degree. After…after we’d stopped speaking. I worked in Edmonton before, but…then I got this offer. I truly didn’t know you lived here, Nicole.”

“It’s okay, baby. Try to breathe.” Waverly pushes Nicole’s auburn hair out of her face and behind her ears.

“Nicole…is this your-?”

“This is Waverly Earp. She’s the greatest person in the world, Mom.”

“Nicole, I- you never told me-.”

“It was a bit hard, considering you haven’t taken an interest in me in years.” Nicole puts her arm around the back of Waverly’s chair.

“Nicole I didn’t know you were-”

Nicole takes a deep breath and decides that she’ll be the bigger person.

“Waverly, this is my mom, Marie. Mom, meet Waverly.”

Waverly sticks out her hand.

“I’m Waverly. I’m in love with your daughter.  I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t hurt Nicole anymore, or else I will personally get my sister, Marshall Wy--”

“Thanks, cutie.” Nicole gives Waverly a tiny smile, and Waverly awkwardly shakes Marie’s hand.

 “Did I mention I also work part-time as a Marshall? I translate ancient texts. Part-time Marshall, full-time Mom!”

Nicole grins, and it makes her dimple pop. Marie clears her throat.

“I don’t get the parents contact information until the child comes into the school. I was told by my principal I had a new special education student who was also a foster child and figured it’d be best to meet with her parents beforehand.” 

Her mother’s eyes are pleading.

“Why are you Ms. O’Connell instead of Mrs. Haught?”

Her mother swallows.

“I figured Mrs. Haught might sound funny to some of the children.”

Waverly decides to push her luck against this _woman_ who left her scared, little girl behind.

“As _the_ future Mrs. Haught, I find that offensive.”

Nicole kicks Waverly’s foot under the desk, but her eyes widen, and a tiny smile moves onto her face. If only she knew what the conversation that had taken place in her office this morning was about.

“We make Haught jokes all the time, Mom.”

Marie takes a folder out of her desk.

“Ariel…is your foster child? You’ve had her for two weeks, correct?”

Waverly nods.

“Yes. She’s been home for two weeks. She’ll be with us for at least six months, possibly longer.”

Marie takes a pen from her desk, and starts to take notes on a lined pad.

“At least for the remainder of the school year. Has Ariel ever been to school before?”

Nicole shakes her head.

“She went to daycare on certain days when she was with her birth mom, but other than that… she knows her ABCs and 123s. She has some speech delay, but she’s super smart.”

Waverly continues.

“She wears glasses to correct Astigmatism and uses a posterior walker, mostly for posture control and distance. We’re going to take her to the doctor to get fitted for a new one.”

“We’re assuming the school will offer Physical Therapy as well as Speech” Nicole rests her shaking hands on the desk.

Marie smiles.

“Yes. She’ll also be pulled out for Occupational Therapy twice a week. You two sound like excellent foster parents.”

Nicole can see the sun beaming through Waverly’s moon-shaped eyes.

“We know she has separation anxiety.  So…we’re not sure how this whole Kindergarten thing is going to go. My sister has a little girl in Kindergarten too, but she’s not in your class.”

Marie nods and clicks her pen.

“Do you know who her teacher is?”

“She has Lovejoy.”

Marie scribbles this down on her pad.

“We’ve met. Possibly, for the first week or so, we can have the girls visit each other. Have they become friendly?”

Nicole laughs.

“They share a room and are on their way to becoming the best of friends.  We actually live with Waverly’s sister and her uh-”

Waverly winces, not quite remembering what kind of friend with benefits Wynonna described Doc as.

“We live with my sister and her boyfriend. She’s not here to tell you who he is to her otherwise.” Waverly squeezes Nicole’s hand.                 

Nicole looks down sheepishly.

“Wynonna’s actually the person who suggested we foster.”

“How lovely.” Marie glances over at Waverly.

“Mom…as long as she’s in your class, you can’t tell her that you’re related to me. Legally, she shouldn’t be in your class, but if this becomes _permanent,_ she’ll probably have to be moved.”

Marie nods.

“I understand, Nicole. Is her mother involved in her life? Will there be supervised visitations?”

Nicole shakes her head and takes a deep breath.

“We- we can’t disclose-”

Waverly strokes Nicole’s cheek.

“Nic, the school has the right to know… it might help your- Mom implement certain techniques.”

Nicole is beyond overwhelmed but starts to tell the story.

”She was found on the side of the train tracks a few towns over. Her mother tried to commit double murder and suicide.  The cops found the car next to the train tracks, turned over. Ariel and her mother survived, although they were unconscious. There was a baby boy in the car too. He was taken to a different foster home. Ariel was harder to place because of her-.”

Waverly rubs Nicole’s back.

“That’s all we know. We’re doing everything in our power to keep her safe. Her mother’s in jail for the foreseeable future. We’re assuming the father was never in the picture, but…we weren’t given any information about him.”

“I am so sorry, Nicole. I’m sorry I wasn’t involved in your life more.”

In her thirty years on earth, Nicole Haught has never seen her mother cry until now.

“Mom. Don’t cry. You have to teach.” Marie wipes her eyes.

“It’s almost the end of the day. The kids are at music. I’ll  have the music teacher dismiss them.”

There’s a knock on the door, and Wynonna kicks it open, holding Alice’s hand, and balancing Ariel on her hip. The girls are in matching green sundresses although it is freezing outside, with Tinkerbell-style buns atop their heads.

“ _So,_ I may have taken my kid out of Lovejoy’s prison early so she could see her aunties!” Alice giggles and runs over to sit on Waverly’s lap.      

“Hi, Tink. Did you show your cousin around the school?”

Alice nods and runs her fingers through Waverly’s dark mane of hair.

“Yup. Showed her the liberry _,_ the art room, and the music room too.”

Wynonna plops Ariel down on Nicole’s lap. Immediately, the little girl throws her arms around Nicole’s neck.

“Missed you, CoCo.”

Nicole kisses the top of Ariel’s red, Tinkerbell-style bun.

“Wavy and I missed you too, Mini-Me.”

Ariel giggles and reaches over toward Waverly.

“Missed you, Wavy.”

Waverly leans over and kisses Ariel’s cheek before blowing a raspberry which makes the little girl smile.

Alice sticks out her tongue in true Earp fashion. 

“What about _me_?”

“I miss you when you at school, Alice.” Alice reaches over to grab her cousin’s hand.

Wynonna takes a cube chair from the rug, flips it over and sits.

“Mini Haught was giving me back cramps. Sorry, kiddo.”

Wynonna stands up and sticks out her hand to greet the teacher behind the desk who clearly looks unamused.

“I’m Wynonna Earp, Ariel’s new Auntie.”

“I’m-”

“Son of a _Haught!”_

Nicole quickly covers Wynonna’s mouth with her hand.

“Yes, Wynonna…. This is exactly who you think it is. We shouldn’t be having this conversation right now in front of the k-i-d-s. I’m still in shock.”

Wynonna looks the woman dead in the eyes and sits back on the cube chair, defeated.   

* * *

  

At the end of the meeting, Nicole and Waverly walk to the playground hand in hand, Ariel in the middle, thankfully unaware that anything is wrong.

Ariel runs off to play on the seesaw with Alice, and the three women sit at a nearby picnic table. Nicole’s in the middle and is fuming.

“I can’t fucking believe she turns up out of the blue and works _here._ ”

“I know baby. I’m in shock too.” Waverly reaches for Nicole’s left hand as Wynonna reaches for her right.

“No matter what happens, you’re a damn good Mom, Haught. I know what its like to have an estranged Mom. Our Mama’s out there…but at the end of the day, I’m glad we have a relationship with her.”

Waverly nods.

“Me too. After all these years, I'm glad to have a relationship with my Mom”

Nicole shakes her head.

“I don’t want to _lie_ to Ariel about who my mom is, Waverly. But…if we adopt her one day, she’s going to have to know.”

Wynonna grins.

“We knew it. I have to text Doc.”

“ _Knew what?”_ Waverly looks up at her sister, genuinely confused.

“We had a bet going on of how long it would take one of you to say that you wanted to keep Ariel. I said three weeks. Doc said a month.”

Nicole shakes her head.

“Only you, Wynonna Earp.”

Waverly smirks, staring at the ring on her sister’s finger. She’ll have to ask Nicole if she knows anything about that later.

“We want to adopt her one day. We talked about adoption before we signed up to foster.”

Nicole smiles and kisses Waverly’s cheek.

“I couldn’t think of a better person to have my babies.”

Waverly’s moon eyes glisten as Wynonna fake gags.

“You want more than one?”

Nicole nods and looks away sheepishly.

“If you do. All I know is that I’m going to try to be a better mom to her than her mom was, and a better Mom than my mom was- _is._ ”

“We’ll do that together,” Waverly smiles and watches Alice and Ariel see-saw back and forth.

“You guys are doing more good for that little girl than either of you realize. You also have me and Doc to back you up…don't forget that.” Wynonna puts her arms around Waverly and Nicole.

“So…are we like a Mommy Gossip Squad or something now?” She laughs and pulls a flask out of her purse. Nicole bats Wynonna’s hand down.

“I’m in _uniform_ Wynonna. If I weren’t, I’d take you up on a drink. Also, no alcohol on school property too. Put that thing away!”

Wynonna salutes Nicole and puts the flask away.

“Yes officer! Come on. Let’s go break the rules and play on the toddler sized equipment with the girls.” She gets up and chases after her daughter and niece.

Waverly starts to get up, but Nicole puts a hand on her stomach to stop her.

“What you said in there, about being the future Mrs. Haught. Was that a joke?”

Waverly blushes and cradles Nicole’s face in her hands.

“It wasn’t, Nicole. I want to marry you someday. I don’t care when or how I just…I know I’m meant to be your wife.”

Nicole’s face lights up like a Christmas tree.

“You’d want to?”

Waverly smirks as her fingers crawl down Nicole’s khakis.

“Well we already have a kid and have been together for years, so I think it’s about time.” She gives Nicole a peck on the lips.

“I-I want to ask you, Waverly. But I want to ask you properly…so….give me a few weeks to shop for a ring and all that.”

Waverly jumps up and starts to run toward the playground as the corners of Nicole’s mouth widen.

“If you want me to say yes, you’ve got to catch me!”

Nicole runs after her girl. 


End file.
